Liana
from Romania and Texas is reading Naked LunchApril 12, 2012 - 12:30pm
@Avery, a bit of a prick is much better than being too vulnerable, overly-optimistic, lacking self-confidence and being wussy. Why did I say "prick" though? Because that person would try to prove to others that their hopes and good intentions will not amount to much in the end, and will constantly try to burst everyone's bubble. But can one be a nice cynic too? Isn't that an oxymoron?
I haven't read much of the hard-core cynic philosophers though. Do existentialists count as somewhat cynical?
Ok, I have a lot of a romantic in me, constantly struggling against my acquired bitterness.
jyh
from VA is reading whatever he feels likeApril 12, 2012 - 1:56pm
I think a "realist" could be a nice cynic. One may be cynical and still offer viable positive alternatives to their targeted Pollyanna rather than spend time drizzling on parades.
Liana
from Romania and Texas is reading Naked LunchApril 13, 2012 - 11:31am
I poke too delicately to elicit cynicism anyway.
As for the poll I started, I am definitely an in-between one. When I become too romantic, I slap myself and say what the hell are you hoping or dreaming of Liana?? Wake up. When I become too cynical I end by disgusting myself and I think, come on, you gave up on humanity already? Both extremes can be fixed with beer.
Felicity Jay
from Norfolk, UK is reading The Informers by Bret Easton EllisApril 15, 2012 - 4:14am
I've drifted somewhere between the two for some time now, and I'd still call myself a cynic to a certain extent, but with romantic tendencies - I can't help it. My own personal outloook is often a cynical one, but ... I'm pulling out of the bitterness stage I was at a few years ago. My mother's outlook is incredibly romantic, and I can't really relate to it - some aspects I can, but as a whole, I can't, which is why I say I have romantic tendencies, but ultimately, I'm still a cynic to varying degrees. I do feel as though I drift some. Just, not always, and not an awful lot.
Jack Campbell Jr.
from Lawrence, KS is reading American Rust by Phillipp MeyerJune 7, 2012 - 6:43am
I'm a divorced, single-father cop who grew up in a poverty-riddled rural area. All the buildings were decaying and falling down, sort of like the people. My writing borders on nihilism, at least on the surface.
I would say I am a cynic who wants desperately to be a romantic, but can't quite believe in it.
Jack Campbell Jr.
from Lawrence, KS is reading American Rust by Phillipp MeyerJune 7, 2012 - 3:58pm
Unfortunately, thinking like a cop can be dangerous in situations where you need to act like other things, like a husband. Which is probably why so many of us are divorced. It's hard to turn off.
That's what I mean when I say I want to be a romantic. I want to be optimistic and expect the best out of people. Unfortunately, like I said, I don't believe it. I generally carry a gun, I size up any stranger that seems to be approaching me, and I hate sitting in any bar or restaraunt with my back towards a large group of people.
I think I have gotten better at turning it off a little bit at home, at least. And my girlfriend is good about letting me pick what side of the table I want to sit on. In exchange, I try hard to be a romantic within the relationship, even if I can't be a true romantic, character-wise.
Michael J. Riser
from CA, TX, Japan, back to CA is reading The Tyrant - Michael Cisco, The Devil Takes You Home - Gabino IglesiasJune 30, 2012 - 2:18am
It didn't ask me either. Which might be why I'm a bitter prick.
Or maybe that's my love life. I'll abstain from the life story, but suffice it to say I'm divorced, involved in a very complicated relationship that by all rights should be incredibly simple and obscenely functional (and really is in most ways), mostly because of the ongoing complicated relationship with my best friend, a beautiful woman I got romantically involved with after the divorce and was loved by into an absolute state of happiness and healing and then shredded by to the point of being perpetually drunk for 6 months while smoking a pack and a half a day for the better part of a year. But we're still best friends. Because of this, I harbor the most ridiculously romantic notions about what two people can mean to each other, even to the point of being "soulmates", and I believe these things in the right moments with absolute certainty. I simultaneously believe with irreversible conviction that love is a gigantic lie, the equivalent of a cleated combat boot with the foot of God inside it pressing down constantly one's genitals. And when I'm really feeling like a bitch, I believe it's not this complicated for everyone and some people actually manage to find happiness and lasting satisfaction in a relationship. Very rarely, but sometimes, I even believe I'll get over it all and figure out how to live properly again.
There was a point when the dark thoughts sent me to the bottom of any bottle I could find. Now I just sort of deal with it. But I really am a hopeless romantic in a lot of ways, and I sort of don't know how to deal with being alone. I never have. I've rarely pursued love, it's just always had a tendency to find me, I gather mostly so it could squeeze my heart into a bile-ridden pulp. My current girlfriend is, like my best friend, someone I've known and been close to for over half my life, and I'm really grateful for her. I don't deserve her on any level whatsoever. And it's a miserable thing that I can't be a better companion to her than I am. I don't know why she puts up with me.
Michael J. Riser
from CA, TX, Japan, back to CA is reading The Tyrant - Michael Cisco, The Devil Takes You Home - Gabino IglesiasJune 30, 2012 - 2:33am
If that's really all I managed to get across there, I must seriously question the validity of my pursuing writing as a career.
Jack Campbell Jr.
from Lawrence, KS is reading American Rust by Phillipp MeyerJune 30, 2012 - 6:00am
Game. Set. Match.
I was a romantic, but I fell into that whole falling in love with friends thing WAY too many times. I always ended up their friend and they always ended up uninterested and not wanting to break my heart, which only broke it harder.
Then, I got cynical, and decided it wasn't worth trying. I gave up on trying to be friends with women I was interested in. I was a bit of a prick sometimes and just relatively uncaring. Ironically, that made them more attracted to me. Not sure how that works. I love women, but goddamn if they aren't complicated sometimes.
avery of the dead
from Kentucky is reading Cipher SistersJune 30, 2012 - 6:01am
"I always ended up their friend and they always ended up uninterested and not wanting to break my heart, which only broke it harder."
For reals.
I don't understand why people can't just be sincere and brutally honest. I DO IT! I hate the idea of someone dragging shit on just because they don't have the guts to end it when they should have.
Dwayne
from Cincinnati, Ohio (suburbs) is reading books that rotate to often to keep this updatedJune 30, 2012 - 6:02am
I'm of the mind set that trying to be friends makes you come across a lot more Luke Skywalker, and not willing to be friends makes you come across a lot more Han Solo. Just my two cents.
I was a romantic, but I fell into that whole falling in love with friends thing WAY too many times. I always ended up their friend and they always ended up uninterested and not wanting to break my heart, which only broke it harder.
I'm still a romantic, even though I shouldn't be. Basically, this woman that I liked had my BFF called me and she was drunk. She told me that she was interested, really interested. We talked for about ten minutes and told her that I would cherish that brief moment in time with her even if it only was a phone call. So, she's straight when she's sober and she's bi when she's drunk. It doesn't matter how she feels about me, it won't change how I feel about her. I told her that I could have a sex change if she wanted me to. She said no, of course. Lol. My BFF told me that she's not good enough for me and that I'm too good for her. And she's like his BFF too. Well, I've moved on, well, I shouldn't have even started. I told him that I was sort of waiting for the alluring enchantress, but it's rather difficult when no one believes your feelings as being real.
The alluring enchantress hasn't logged in for a while now. Of course, it's summer so it makes sense. When it's nice out, I wouldn't want to be connected to the Internet. I've gone in and out of her life online like crazy. Every time she'd acknowledge my existence. Women are hard to tell regardless of online or in real life. Why can't people say what they want? I hate guessing, but I keep on doing that because I know women all too well. I end up sabotaging all "ships" because I just care too much for people regardless of how they feel and how I feel about them. I'm learning to be more selective because I'm one of those goody-goodys that don't know any better.
Sorry folks. Need to focus on one story now. I don't know why I wanted to write someone else's story other than my own. That was stupid and exhausting. No secrets. No more based on someone else's love story. No more protecting the alluring enchantress. Well, I can't help it. I want to be good enough for her and not stray, but temptation is everywhere!
I don't know if Matt Attack is reading this thread...sorry dude, still working on the word economy thing. Really hard 'cause when I get passionate about certain subjects, I go all out!
I think this should be my last posting of the day. This will be good for me. It's like drinking and not getting too drunk. Addiction controlled. End of rant.
Matt Attack
from Richmond, Va. is reading As I Lay Dying, William FaulknerJune 30, 2012 - 9:06am
I don't know if Matt Attack is reading this thread...sorry dude, still working on the word economy thing"
Clearly not. Here I'll summarize your points.
My best friend and I like each other, but it's weird. I just sabotage myself. I'm a people pleaser because I am kind of lonely. I'm trying to develop a more selective and independent side.
lol
@Liana bitterness would go along with it....when your heart is broke too many times that's what happenes.
This is a pretty good line(s)...might just steal this.
@Avery, a bit of a prick is much better than being too vulnerable, overly-optimistic, lacking self-confidence and being wussy. Why did I say "prick" though? Because that person would try to prove to others that their hopes and good intentions will not amount to much in the end, and will constantly try to burst everyone's bubble. But can one be a nice cynic too? Isn't that an oxymoron?
I haven't read much of the hard-core cynic philosophers though. Do existentialists count as somewhat cynical?
Ok, I have a lot of a romantic in me, constantly struggling against my acquired bitterness.
" try to prove to others that their hopes and good intentions will not amount to much in the end, and will constantly try to burst everyone's bubble."
That sounds about right. I'm a total downer.
Anyone who disagrees with Avery raise your hand!
I think a "realist" could be a nice cynic. One may be cynical and still offer viable positive alternatives to their targeted Pollyanna rather than spend time drizzling on parades.
We disagree so much, my hand being raised is implied.
I don't know who I am, that is why I still can't choose from the list.
I do know one thing though.
My Davery™ is in a good mood because I bought a ring for it.
But my Jumblies® aren't. They're swollen.
And I did mean disagreeing about Avery being a downer. My hand is up!
LOL! Liana has made me even more bitter!
I'm gonna go eat a cupcake.
A grapefruit rind flavored cupcake?
I think that is probably what Anakin Skywalker ate right before he decided, fuck it, and turned to the dark side.
Avery, I was trying to poke you, to get you to say something cynical.
You're also trying to poke Avery?
Well this just got interesting.....
The plot does thicken.
Well, as a general hint, poking me will not make me say something cynical.
Well, it might.
I poke too delicately to elicit cynicism anyway.
As for the poll I started, I am definitely an in-between one. When I become too romantic, I slap myself and say what the hell are you hoping or dreaming of Liana?? Wake up. When I become too cynical I end by disgusting myself and I think, come on, you gave up on humanity already? Both extremes can be fixed with beer.
Poke Harder®
Poker in the front, liquor in the rear.
Do I have that backward? Of fuck, either way, I'm in.
Woooo-hoooo!
I've drifted somewhere between the two for some time now, and I'd still call myself a cynic to a certain extent, but with romantic tendencies - I can't help it. My own personal outloook is often a cynical one, but ... I'm pulling out of the bitterness stage I was at a few years ago. My mother's outlook is incredibly romantic, and I can't really relate to it - some aspects I can, but as a whole, I can't, which is why I say I have romantic tendencies, but ultimately, I'm still a cynic to varying degrees. I do feel as though I drift some. Just, not always, and not an awful lot.
I think it's healthy to be conflicted about it!
As for the poker business, Is it time for me to learn to bluff...?
I'm sort of bi-polar, wavering between cynic and romantic.
I fucking love Mattack's hair!
DAMMIT! MORE CYLONS! It's an invasion people!
I'm a divorced, single-father cop who grew up in a poverty-riddled rural area. All the buildings were decaying and falling down, sort of like the people. My writing borders on nihilism, at least on the surface.
I would say I am a cynic who wants desperately to be a romantic, but can't quite believe in it.
That was beautiful, Chip.
I wanted it be beautiful, but didn't quite believe it. :p
I wake up every morning with a rock-hard erection, but I'm distrustful of all women who wear large sunglasses, so you tell me.
I would think being romantic would be a little dangerous for a cop. Well, I mean in situations that require you to be a cop.
Unfortunately, thinking like a cop can be dangerous in situations where you need to act like other things, like a husband. Which is probably why so many of us are divorced. It's hard to turn off.
That's what I mean when I say I want to be a romantic. I want to be optimistic and expect the best out of people. Unfortunately, like I said, I don't believe it. I generally carry a gun, I size up any stranger that seems to be approaching me, and I hate sitting in any bar or restaraunt with my back towards a large group of people.
I think I have gotten better at turning it off a little bit at home, at least. And my girlfriend is good about letting me pick what side of the table I want to sit on. In exchange, I try hard to be a romantic within the relationship, even if I can't be a true romantic, character-wise.
I'll murder your family, robot.
You mean:
I'll murder your family, robot.
What're you talking about?
The Borg, they're back
Ugh. I just accepted a friend request from that bot. I swear, I have to stop blindly accepting these things.
Well, you better tell you new friend bye bye. He's on the Kirk-list now.
The robot didn't ask me to be friends. :(
Me neither. It seems Avery attracts robots also.
It didn't ask me either. Which might be why I'm a bitter prick.
Or maybe that's my love life. I'll abstain from the life story, but suffice it to say I'm divorced, involved in a very complicated relationship that by all rights should be incredibly simple and obscenely functional (and really is in most ways), mostly because of the ongoing complicated relationship with my best friend, a beautiful woman I got romantically involved with after the divorce and was loved by into an absolute state of happiness and healing and then shredded by to the point of being perpetually drunk for 6 months while smoking a pack and a half a day for the better part of a year. But we're still best friends. Because of this, I harbor the most ridiculously romantic notions about what two people can mean to each other, even to the point of being "soulmates", and I believe these things in the right moments with absolute certainty. I simultaneously believe with irreversible conviction that love is a gigantic lie, the equivalent of a cleated combat boot with the foot of God inside it pressing down constantly one's genitals. And when I'm really feeling like a bitch, I believe it's not this complicated for everyone and some people actually manage to find happiness and lasting satisfaction in a relationship. Very rarely, but sometimes, I even believe I'll get over it all and figure out how to live properly again.
There was a point when the dark thoughts sent me to the bottom of any bottle I could find. Now I just sort of deal with it. But I really am a hopeless romantic in a lot of ways, and I sort of don't know how to deal with being alone. I never have. I've rarely pursued love, it's just always had a tendency to find me, I gather mostly so it could squeeze my heart into a bile-ridden pulp. My current girlfriend is, like my best friend, someone I've known and been close to for over half my life, and I'm really grateful for her. I don't deserve her on any level whatsoever. And it's a miserable thing that I can't be a better companion to her than I am. I don't know why she puts up with me.
That's a lot to say you had a bad break up.
If that's really all I managed to get across there, I must seriously question the validity of my pursuing writing as a career.
If that's all it takes to get you to seriously question it, I've under estimated mine.
Game. Set. Match.
I was a romantic, but I fell into that whole falling in love with friends thing WAY too many times. I always ended up their friend and they always ended up uninterested and not wanting to break my heart, which only broke it harder.
Then, I got cynical, and decided it wasn't worth trying. I gave up on trying to be friends with women I was interested in. I was a bit of a prick sometimes and just relatively uncaring. Ironically, that made them more attracted to me. Not sure how that works. I love women, but goddamn if they aren't complicated sometimes.
"I always ended up their friend and they always ended up uninterested and not wanting to break my heart, which only broke it harder."
For reals.
I don't understand why people can't just be sincere and brutally honest. I DO IT! I hate the idea of someone dragging shit on just because they don't have the guts to end it when they should have.
I'm of the mind set that trying to be friends makes you come across a lot more Luke Skywalker, and not willing to be friends makes you come across a lot more Han Solo. Just my two cents.
I'm still a romantic, even though I shouldn't be. Basically, this woman that I liked had my BFF called me and she was drunk. She told me that she was interested, really interested. We talked for about ten minutes and told her that I would cherish that brief moment in time with her even if it only was a phone call. So, she's straight when she's sober and she's bi when she's drunk. It doesn't matter how she feels about me, it won't change how I feel about her. I told her that I could have a sex change if she wanted me to. She said no, of course. Lol. My BFF told me that she's not good enough for me and that I'm too good for her. And she's like his BFF too. Well, I've moved on, well, I shouldn't have even started. I told him that I was sort of waiting for the alluring enchantress, but it's rather difficult when no one believes your feelings as being real.
The alluring enchantress hasn't logged in for a while now. Of course, it's summer so it makes sense. When it's nice out, I wouldn't want to be connected to the Internet. I've gone in and out of her life online like crazy. Every time she'd acknowledge my existence. Women are hard to tell regardless of online or in real life. Why can't people say what they want? I hate guessing, but I keep on doing that because I know women all too well. I end up sabotaging all "ships" because I just care too much for people regardless of how they feel and how I feel about them. I'm learning to be more selective because I'm one of those goody-goodys that don't know any better.
Sorry folks. Need to focus on one story now. I don't know why I wanted to write someone else's story other than my own. That was stupid and exhausting. No secrets. No more based on someone else's love story. No more protecting the alluring enchantress. Well, I can't help it. I want to be good enough for her and not stray, but temptation is everywhere!
I don't know if Matt Attack is reading this thread...sorry dude, still working on the word economy thing. Really hard 'cause when I get passionate about certain subjects, I go all out!
I think this should be my last posting of the day. This will be good for me. It's like drinking and not getting too drunk. Addiction controlled. End of rant.
Clearly not. Here I'll summarize your points.
My best friend and I like each other, but it's weird. I just sabotage myself. I'm a people pleaser because I am kind of lonely. I'm trying to develop a more selective and independent side.
THE END
You forgot "... like a goddamn idiot."